Brothers From Beginning To End
by Nimbafuu
Summary: An Itachi/Sasuke Tribute. :D I love this pairing. Both the harmless brotherly love, and the forbidden relationship between them. Also, this was semi-inspired by a story you can find here: /s/3699238/1/Good Enough not my work


He screamed as the fear gripped him harshly, the hand covering his mouth and nose preventing his breathing. He couldn't breathe, he could barely think. He gripped the wrist of his attacker with both of his trembling hands, tears escaping his eyes as he tried without success to pry his impending death away.

"Poor, poor boy. With such pretty, pretty Sharingan eyes. Don't worry, soon you won't feel a thing."

He hated himself in that moment. He told himself that Itachi wouldn't have been captured. Wouldn't be scared. But he wasn't Itachi, he wasn't strong like his brother.

"Sleep, boy."

He was just the younger brother. The replacement for the clan heir Itachi would have become. A lowly genin who was sent on a solo mission due to lack of shinobi. He wasn't the only person of his age who was being sent on a solo mission, however he doubted his 'friend's' missions, had gone terribly wrong like his had. He wasn't going to be saved. He was alone, like always. He was weak, like always.

"Just sleep. And this will all be over."

He screamed again, this time out of pure rage. At himself, at his weakness. It was all his fault. If he'd been strong enough...if he'd been good enough...what would have changed? Would things really be any different?

...Would he still be all alone? With no mother, no father, but most of all without...what?

He couldn't keep any strength in his limbs, and his hands fell lifelessly to his sides, his eyes looking to the ceiling, slowly fading from their rich onyx color.

"That's a good boy."

Did he want to accept the fact that what he missed the most, loved and needed the most, was his brother? Brother. The more he heard that word repeat in a mantra, his mind stuck to Itachi's image, to brother. The more he wanted brother. How ironic that the very man who'd taken everything away, was what he truly needed to have everything back.

"A good, precious boy."

...Precious? Had he ever been referred to as such? By anyone...not as far as he could recall. Recall? What could he recall? Where was everything?

_"No!"_

...What was that? A voice? Someone was...the hand...was it gone? Was it still...there? He was dying, but...he didn't feel anything. Why couldn't...why...dying, he was, he was going to die.

_"Too late, for the boy. A shame I won't be able to harvest those pretty eyes of his."__  
"Sasuke!"  
"The two of you look alike. You have the same pretty eyes."_

A last tear fell from lifeless, gray eyes, jaw falling slack.

_"No! You can't-Sasuke!"  
"Too bad. I'd really hoped-"_

Not one sound more escaped the man who lay in two pieces, decapitated on the floor at the feet of the broken figure. Breaking from his trance, picking up the lifeless body of the child he held protectively to his chest, the man ran from the building, eventually reaching daylight through dark tunnels to sprint to the nearest town. Damning a disguise he ran, shedding tear after tear for the boy in his arms, pumping a substantial amount of chakra through his legs to reach someone in time.

"Please! Someone help him!"

He ran through the civilian village, so many non-shinobi not even taking note of his existence. The village was barren save for the people, dragging themselves through the lonely streets. He yelled out a name in a hurry, noticing a figure he'd recognized from images in informational personel files of his home village.

"TSUNADE!"

He thanked whatever luck was with him at that moment. The blonde woman had turned, alarmed at first, until she noticed the bloodied, broken and lifeless figure of a mere _child_ in the nin's arms. He stopped before her, his breathing out of control as tears continued to stream down his face as if they had every right to do so. It was against her better judgement that she took a deep breath and walked forward, grimacing at the sight of the familiar headband tied to his forehead.

"...Set him down."

He could do nothing but oblige, dropping to his knees and too absorbed to acknowledge the sickening crack the action caused. He laid his baby brother's figure down on the ground, his hands gripping the boy's lifeless hand nearest him. He hung his head and brought Sasuke's hand up to his face, burying his features in his brother's skin. The woman held sympathy in her eyes for this clearly broken, _pleading_ criminal. She set to work on attempting to revive the child.

"...Uchiha Itachi."

He looked up, his eyes closed as he held his otouto's fingers to his lips. He opened his onyx eyes and looked to her.

"After I save him...I will expect answers to my questions in return."  
"Anything. Please, anything! Just save him!"

He closed his eyes tightly again, choking a soft sob past his lips. Sasuke was never meant to die, not at such a young age, and not such a death. He was meant to live, meant to be happy once he'd gotten his revenge. His well-deserved revenge on his treaturous brother. Not meant to die, not meant to find the truth behind it all, not meant...to hurt.

"I will. It looks as if you've brought him to me in time. I should...be able to revive him and heal his injuries. The only injury threatening his life is the injury to his throat."  
"Thank you..."  
"I'm not doing this for you, but for him. A child doesn't deserve this."

Itachi silently nodded, ignoring the pain in his knees, crying because of the pain in his heart.

"He never, deserved any pain he'd ever felt."

She smiled in relief as a dark color slowly returned to the boy's eyes. His pupils became less noticable as he spasmed and sputtered, coughing blood through his lips and turning to the side, unknowingly facing Itachi as he coughed continuously, his lungs burning from the hot blood.

"You love him."

Itachi sobbed and grabbed Sasuke's convulsing form, clutching him to his heaving chest. He couldn't breathe as he smiled, still crying and holding his brother lovingly, burying his face into Sasuke's hair.

It seemed she had her answer and she pushed her chakra into his lungs through his back, having to concentrate and push to reach them correctly. She smiled when he was able to breathe easily and sat back on her ankles, her hands on her knees.

"...W-Wh-uuu..."

Sasuke coughed and wheezed, clutching with his little bit of strength to the trembling form of whoever he was being held against.

"Sasuke..."

He gasped, yelling out as his lungs were obviously against the reaction. That voice was...Itachi? He was...clutching Itachi? Itachi was holding him, crying...for...him?

"Baby brother, my baby brother..."

Itachi pulled back enough to twist his neck a little and press his lips firmly to Sasuke's cheek. He pulled off the boy's bloodied headband and touched his forehead to his otouto's.

"I-t-ta-chi...w-wh..."

He shushed him by pressing the pad of his thumb to Sasuke's lips, smiling slightly as he pressed his lips gently, albeit lovingly to the now bare forehead.

"Not now, just...just breathe...we can talk later...you can kill me later if you wish it so, Sasuke. I promise, baby brother."

Sasuke looked up, his vision blurry, but he could easily define his brother's sharp facial features.

"A-Ani-k-ki..."

His eyes drooped shut after a short glimpse of his brother's shocked expression.

"Sasuke!?"

He gripped his brother's chin carefully with a hand as the boy collapsed, his breathing becoming slower, but steady. He held him to his chest and tried to stand up, completely forgetting his knees. He dropped to the ground again and bit his lip to keep from shouting at the burst of pain running from his legs up his spine.

"...Wait a moment."

He glanced at the blonde woman as she hesitated slightly before pressing her hands to his knees and started to heal them.

"...Tsunade, thank you. For him."

Once she finished, she glanced up at the Uchiha and frowned, standing up and motioning for him to follow her.

"Come with me. You owe me those answers. I have a room at an inn that he can rest in."  
"...Very well."

They arrived not too long after at the inn and he set Sasuke on the bed once they entered the room.

"Now. From the beginning of this whole charade, explain."

Itachi sat next to Sasuke and looked at her carefully before nodding, keeping his eyes to Sasuke.

"When I slaughtered the Uchiha clan. It...was not by...well not _exactly_ by choice. It was on orders, however orders that I had chosen to follow, for lack of a better end result."

She glared at him momentarily, trying to keep an open mind.

"Enough with the stupid riddles."  
"...The higher-ups of Konoha, beyond the third Hokage, have always held a grudge against the Uchiha. Ever since the beginning of the war between the Uchiha and Senju. Fearing the Uchiha would start an uprising in the village, they planned a way to kill them all off. I was their martyr. I was ordered to kill every single Uchiha and leave in disgrace, my name tarnished. The pride of the clan, their own demise because of their greed and lust for power."  
"...Where did Sasuke fit into this?"  
"...Obviously by 'every Uchiha' I was also supposed to get rid of him. I couldn't. Sasuke is the only person that I have ever cared for. I love him more than anything, he has been my entire reason for living since his birth."  
"...So you left him alone?"  
"I decided that it was better for him to hate me and remain in Konoha, wishing for my death."  
"Even if he was driven to insanity? Losing his entire world at the mere age of what, seven?"  
"...Eight."  
"Feh. Not much better. Why didn't you tell him the truth? Tell him that you loved him and that you needed to do it all to protect him?"  
"I didn't think he would understand. He wouldn't have believed me."  
"You don't know that."  
"...I loved him too much to be selfish. It was...better for him to hate me. I thought that maybe once he'd finally killed me, he would be able to find happiness again. Somehow."  
"What will you do now? You don't expect him to forget this, do you? He called you Aniki before he passed out...or was I the only one that heard it?"

Itachi looked at his sleeping brother and brushed his hair out of his face.

"...He did."

He froze, his hand stopped in the position of caressing Sasuke's cheek softly. Sasuke opened his eyes and didn't appear tired. Itachi felt his breath die in his throat and his widened coal eyes looked into the tearful, remorseful eyes of his younger, darling sibling.

"...I did."

Tsunade stood and walked over to the foot of the bed and looked at the boy.

"I'll leave you two for now. You can have this room, it's paid for through tomorrow night. If you need me, I'll be in the room across the hall from this one. Sasuke, you should stop in to see me so I can make sure your injuries are healing. Well, until then."

Tsunade left the room silently after her short speech and Itachi couldn't take his eyes away from Sasuke's.

"You...you were...awake?"  
"...For some reason, I thought you would have been able to tell."

Sasuke reached a hand up to touch his brother's face.

"...I love you too, Aniki. I...don't think I could have understood all of that when I was younger, but I think I understand it now..."  
"...I'm...glad."  
"But?"

Itachi closed his eyes and held Sasuke's hand touching his face in his free hand, turning his head to bury his face in Sasuke's palm.

"How? How...can you forgive me just like that...after what...all I've done..."  
"...I want my brother back. I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to suffer anymore. It was never truly about the clan...or maybe even about mother and father...it was about us, Itachi. The worst part about that night, was that you turned your back on me. And that up until now, I thought that the person who I'd loved most, truly hated me."  
"...I could _never_ hate you, baby brother."

Itachi looked back to Sasuke's eyes and smiled.

"You're more important to me than anything."  
"As you are to me, Aniki. Please, stay with me this time...and if you can't, then take me with you! I don't...want to go back to that village if it means losing you again."

Itachi sighed and laid down on his side, facing Sasuke and pulling the boy to rest against himself, their legs twisting together.

"...I can't go back. To the village, or Akatsuki. If you come with me Sasuke, we'll be exiled. We'll have each other, but...will that be enough for you?"  
"Yes! As long as you're with me, big brother!"

Sasuke smiled for the first time in years and hugged Itachi tightly.

"You saved me...didn't you? When I was..."

Itachi didn't want to think back on it. He didn't ever plan to see Sasuke lifeless, _dead_ on the floor in front of him.

"That fucking bastard is dead. I made sure of it."

Sasuke laughed and nuzzled his face into Itachi's neck.

"I love you Aniki. I will get stronger. So you won't have to worry again."  
"I know...Sasuke, if you want, I'll train you myself. Together, we'll find a way to live, Otouto."

Sasuke nodded eagerly against Itachi and gripped him tightly.

"I would love that. Please. Let's go. I don't want to be here. I feel like we're going to get torn apart again..."  
"Sasuke..."

Itachi lifted Sasuke's head up to look at him.

"I will _never_, allow us to be torn apart again. You're stuck with me, baby brother."  
"Forever?"  
"Of course. We were brothers in the beginning, and we'll be brothers in the end too, even if the middle was a little rough."

Sasuke smiled at Itachi and closed his eyes, beginning to fall asleep next to his brother. Just where he should be.

"Yeah. Brothers from the beginning to the end."

Itachi smiled and held his precious person close.

"We'll make it in this world Sasuke. Together."

Because even in the middle, all they really had was each other. And that was how it should have been all along. Each other, was all they really needed.


End file.
